


Swing Sets and Dinner Dates

by wordsarelifealways



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, child!Claire, destiel au, neighbour!Dean, parent!Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 02:04:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4769447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsarelifealways/pseuds/wordsarelifealways
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel is starting to get a little bit suspicious of his daughter's new best friend.  Mostly because it's the hot new neighbour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Swing Sets and Dinner Dates

It’s been a few weeks, but Castiel is starting to get suspicious now.

It started innocuous enough: a few times Claire fell over in the garden and Castiel had come out to soothe her muffled sniffles and noticed their neighbour over the fence.

Next there were a few instances of Castiel looking out from the house and seeing Claire whispering to the same neighbour over the fence and looking delighted when he whispered back to her, putting a hand over his mouth so Castiel couldn’t even try to read those full lips.

And then, slowly, the neighbour trickled into Castiel’s every day life. So subtly that he hardly noticed. It was all Claire, really; she told him all about her new friend.

His name was Dean. He worked on cars all day, which didn’t come as a surprise to Castiel in the slightest considering if Dean wasn’t talking to Claire he could usually be found bent over that black car of his. He had a little brother, which Castiel could tell fascinated Claire as an only child. Dean lived alone.

It took a few – mildly confusing – days for Castiel to realise that when Claire talked about Baby she meant Dean’s car.

And so it came to be that Dean gradually infiltrated Castiel’s psyche. Suddenly it seemed that everywhere Castiel went he saw Dean, even if Dean himself wasn’t there.

Castiel suddenly noticed how many times a day he went past Singer’s garage. A few times a week Castiel found himself eating lunch in a little diner he had never noticed before that Dean claimed served the best burgers in the state. Whenever he saw a particularly sleek looking car he found himself wondering what Dean would make of it.

And then came the fateful evening.

Castiel came home ad found Claire sitting on her swing set with Dean. Dean who kept glancing at the chains as if worried that they were about to snap, which was probably a fair assumption considering that it had been made for six year olds and not 6” men made of solid muscle.

Not that Castiel was noticing anything like that.

Shaking his head, Castiel got out of the car and went up to the house. At first Castiel had been concerned about the man living alone who had taken such an interest in his five year old daughter, but after a brief conversation Castiel concluded that Dean was harmless.

And Claire seemed to enjoy his company.

He gave Claire a wave and she gave him a cheeky smile in return. In the blink of an eye, Claire was off her swing and running full pelt at his legs.

“Daddy!” She squealed as she hit his knees.

“Hiya, Bug! You had a good day?” Castiel hoisted Claire up onto his hip and dropped a kiss on the top of her pale blonde hair. If he was brutally honest with himself he knew that soon Claire would be too big to do this soon, so he was making the most of her tiny stature while he could.

He found himself watching more than listening. The animated way she moved her hands, both of which had paint smears all over. The way she darted her little pink tongue out to wet her lips between sentences. The way she threw her head back and giggled freely when she recounted Auntie Anna’s incident with the microwave. The-

Oh, crap.

The expectant grin on her face that meant Castiel had missed a question. Those pearly whites bared like that always meant trouble for him.

“Sorry, Bug, what was that last bit? Daddy’s getting deaf in his old age.” He winked, watching with bemusement as Claire heaved an incredibly dramatic sigh.

Castiel suddenly had an idea of how her teenage years were going to go.

“I said: can Dean come over for dinner tonight?” Claire answered in an exaggeratedly slow and loud voice.

And yet despite Claire’s efforts, Castiel’s brain still froze.

“Uh…” His brain, but apparently not his mouth.

Castiel snapped his mouth shut and looked between Claire and Dean. Claire was staring up at him exasperatedly and Dean was watching with a faint smirk playing around the edges of those full lips.

Which, again, Castiel really didn’t notice.

“Dean’s a grown man, Claire. If he’d like to come, he’s more than welcome.” Castiel had started looking at Claire, but by the end he found his gaze pulled back to those big green eyes.

Had Dean always had such captivating eyes?

Castiel just about noticed Claire wiggle down from him and watched her dart back over to Dean, pleading with him to come for dinner using her best soulful blue eyes stare. After a few second stare down, Dean chuckled and held his hands up.

“Alright, I surrender! Put those puppy dog eyes away!”

“So you’ll come over?” Claire grinned and Castiel felt sweat begin to prickle on the back of his neck.

Was this a good idea? It felt like they were crossing some line; bringing Dean properly into Castiel’s life and not just another part of his daughter’s life he listened to her talk about. Castiel could already feel himself getting distracted just by Dean’s presence a few feet away. How could he be expected to hold a conversation with the man?

“If your dad will have me.” Dean nodded, and with that both sets of eyes were on Castiel. Claire looked between the two of them and grinned, that terrible trouble making grin.

“He will. Come over at six o’clock!” She instructed Dean gleefully before running inside to say goodbye to Anna who was packing up to go home now Castiel was back.

For a few minutes Castiel just stood in shock. It was Dean who broke the silence.

“I think she’s trying to set us up, y’know.” He said casually and Cas spluttered.

“She five!” He exclaimed. Claire wasn’t trying to set them up; she was just excited about having a new friend. You invited friends to dinner. It was simple, straight forward child logic.

“Twenty bucks says she’s trying to set us up.” Dean retorted and Castiel arched an eyebrow at hm.

“You want to bet against her father that you know her motives better?”

“Hey, if you know her so well then this is easy money for you, isn’t it?” Dean shrugged, sticking out a calloused hand.

Well, when he put it like that…

“Twenty dollars.” Cas agreed, shaking the offered hand. “Be here at six like Bug said.”

***

Dinner went as well as Castiel could have hoped. He had made enough pasta to feed a small army before Dean arrived, and it certainly wasn’t the worst thing Castiel had ever cooked.

The conversation flowed and laughter bounced off the walls. Castiel hadn’t realised quite how quiet their house was until it was filled with the sound of Claire and Dean laughing. The two of them bounced off each other, sharing a humour that mostly went over Castiel’s head.

Even if he couldn’t contribute, he enjoyed watching the two of them. It was nice to see Claire happy and at ease with someone.

And now here he was: tucking a tuckered out Claire into bed. Castiel kissed her forehead and flicked her night light on, but just as he was about to go he heard her sigh.

“Did you like Dean, daddy?”

“I did.” Castiel blinked in surprise and looked back at his daughter. “You can have him around again next week, if you like?”

Before Dean had gone home, Castiel had told him he was more than welcome to come back any time. Needless to say, they had both come away from that smiling.

“Or you could have him over to play.” Claire yawned.

“What?” Castiel felt his eyes widen and heat rush up to his face at the thought of playing with Dean. Had his minor infatuation been so obvious that even Claire had picked up on it?

And if Claire had noticed…

Mortified barely scratched the surface. He’d never be able to look Dean in the eye again. He-

“Did you know Krissy Chambers has two mummies?” Claire sighed, her sleepy eyes fluttering shut.

Stunned, Castiel backed out of Claire’s room and went into his own.

“Who’d have thought it?” He muttered as he flopped back on his bed.

Looked like Castiel had to make a trip to an ATM machine tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at whoismisha.tumblr.com for other drabbles


End file.
